The person who inspires me most is… my best friend, Kim. She works so hard to get where she wants to be while still being such a supportive person and solid source of happiness.

If I could pass a law… it might be something similar to what some of my environmentally conscious friends do with the Trash On Your Back event; some sort of regular means of dealing with waste that physically shows the impacts of man. You can’t force people to care, but if they have to deal with their trash directly, some may start to use more conscience when going about their every day.

If I was a shape shifter I’d turn into… A blue whale.

My motto: Don’t rush into things. For the glass to run over, it must ﬁrst be ﬁlled.

My most memorable outdoor moment: When I switched from longboard surﬁng to a short board, I went out in a storm surge, and caught the wave that stands out most in my memory. It was so much larger and faster than anything I had surfed before, and I was screaming down the face of the wave before I even realized I was screaming. It is the ﬁrst successful ride I can remember on a short board, which was at one point, a serious challenge for me.

What forces, events, or inﬂuences in your life inspired you to become a conservationist? Growing up on the water and enjoying the natural setting of my home in Florida, I developed an early connection to the environment around me. Witnessing so much harm being done with litter, development, as well as the fact that so many of our native species are endangered or threatened, I could not imagine spending my life doing anything but working with the ocean and devoting my time to helping prevent further harm and correct the damage that has already been done.